A teenager has admitted her dangerous driving amid a momentary lapse of concentration behind the wheel caused serious injury to a passenger following a crash between Penrith and Carlisle.
Meabh McGrath, now aged 18, was 17 when she lost control of a Ford Ka while travelling on the A6, near to the village of Calthwaite, on 17 August, 2024.
This resulted in a one-vehicle collision as the Ka collided with a wall. A female passenger in the vehicle suffered a spinal fracture.
At Carlisle Crown Court today, McGrath pleaded guilty to a charge of causing serious injury to that passenger by dangerous driving.
Outlining the circumstances of the incident, Judge Michael Fanning said: “The front seat passenger sent a (cradle-mounted mobile phone) message back on the defendant’s instructions. It wasn’t the message she (McGrath) had intended being sent back. She allowed herself to be momentarily distracted by that.“
The vehicle drifted off the road as McGrath — an inexperienced driver — “over-corrected”, causing it to “flip”, the court also heard. Otherwise there had been no other reported concerns about McGrath’s manner of driving.
Judge Fanning adjourned the case and directed that a pre-sentence report should be prepared by a probation officer who is due to interview the teenager in the coming weeks.
But after hearing submissions from both prosecution and defence barristers in the case, a judge made McGrath a promise that she would not be sent to prison.
“It is a serious offence, you know that,” the judge said to McGrath, “and clearly you are worried about what the outcome would be — and you should be, because you caused a serious injury. But I accept you didn’t set out to do so.
“Provided you co-operate with probation, keep the appointments, behave appropriately and don’t get into any more trouble, I am satisfied I would suspend the sentence of imprisonment that would otherwise follow — and that’s a promise.”
McGrath, of Council Houses, Thiefside, near Calthwaite, is due to be sentenced at the crown court by Judge Fanning on 24th September. In the meantime she remains on unconditional bail, and subject to an interim driving disqualification.
Judge Fanning will fix the exact length of a mandatory driving ban when he hands down the punishment, and McGrath will be required to pass an extended test before her licence is returned.
